Moroccan handed one-year jail for 'insulting' Saudi Arabia over Gaza
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A Moroccan court on Monday sentenced an Islamist activist to one year in prison for defamation over Facebook posts about the war in Gaza that were deemed offensive to the Saudi state, his lawyer said.
Mohamed Boustati has been in detention since late February, his lawyer, Mohamed Nouini, told AFP.
A member of the banned but tolerated Al Adl Wal Ihssane movement, Boustati "was sentenced to one year in prison for defamation", the lawyer said.
The case was based on a complaint filed by Saudi security authorities regarding "posts they considered insulting to Saudi institutions and figures", Nouini said.
He said the posts in question contained general political criticism of Arab states' positions on the war in Gaza and normalisation with Israel, without specifying further details.
Boustati denied responsibility for some of the posts, claiming his Facebook account had been hacked, according to Nouini.
Earlier this month, another member of Al Adl Wal Ihssane was sentenced to two years in prison in a similar case over Facebook posts that allegedly praised a stabbing attack in Israel at the start of the year.